This thesis presents a collection of short stories, “Soul Navigation.” The stories explore the toll that modern living in the United States takes on the human spirit and how that spirit can be renewed. The stories depict characters that are aware of the torpor and oppression in their lives and seek change, freedom, and the restoration of decency. The characters experience an inner struggle that leads to a tipping point where something extraordinary happens and new possibilities manifest. A brief study of Ray Bradbury’s Dandelion Wine introduces the collection. The introduction demonstrates how Bradbury’s work embodies the power of the human spirit to struggle against isolation and alienation, questions social practices, examines the consequences and benefits of stepping outside or rebelling against the status quo to achieve personal and social restoration, and serves as a powerful influence on this writer’s aims and aesthetics through his use of magical realism. In Dandelion Wine, from his title to his handling of language, setting, character, and everyday objects, Bradbury offers a model for transforming what is regarded as unimportant, quotidian, or unwanted into something exhilarating and curative.